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Sandshrew Line/B2W2
Sandshrew can be found in Desert Resort and Relic Castle. At the entrance of Desert Resort, Sandshrew has a 10% chance of appearing at either level 19 or 20. Inside Desert Resort itself, Sandshrew has a 15% encounter rate with the same levels. In Relic Castle, Sandshrew appears on 1F with an encounter rate of 20%, at either level 19 or 20. On B1F, Sandshrew also has a 20% chance of appearing, this time always at level 20. Wild Sandslash appear on Route 15 and in Relic Castle. On Route 15, they appear in both the normal and the dark tall grass, both with an encounter rate of 30%. In the normal tall grass, Sandslash's levels will be 54 or 56, while in the dark tall grass, it will be 62 or 64. In Relic Castle, Sandslash appears on the Relic Passage floor, with an encounter rate of 20%. These Sandslash will be level 28 or 29. The Sandshrew Line is defined by a few bad traits, namely the bland pure Ground-type, the low special and Speed stats, and an unusable Ability. However, a high Defense, fast evolution and decent Attack make up for this. The members of the Sandshrew line definitely aren't top-tier Pokémon for B2W2 nuzlockes, and they're not the best encounters to get in the Desert Resort, but you could definitely find some usage for them. However, as a physical attacker, it is by far outclassed by Krookodile and Darmanitan, which are a lot more common to find as well. Cofagrigus does tanking a lot better. However, if you're looking for a physically bulky Ground-type that can deal some damage as well, Sandslash is your friend. Important Matchups - Challenge Mode = * Gym #4 - Elesa (Nimbasa City, Electric-type): Elesa's Emolga knows Aerial Ace and is immune to your Ground-type attacks, but Sandslash's high Defense stat can shrug Aerial Ace off, and can strike back with Rock Tomb, whose TM you can find in Desert Resort. Flaaffy knows Confuse Ray and Take Down, but goes down to Dig or Magnitude in a 2HKO, at best. Use Magnitude if you don't want Static to set in. Joltik knows Energy Ball, which will hit Sandslash's lower Special Defense stat hard. Stay away. Zebstrika can try Stomp or Flame Charge, but goes down after one or two Digs. * Rood (Driftveil City): Herdier has Intimidate, plus strikes with Take Down. Sandslash doesn't get hit hard by the move due to its high Defense, but doesn't have a viable way to strike back hard either, except through high Magnitude rolls. Normally, Sandslash should be able to take it, though. Swoobat has the special STAB move Air Cutter, so stay away there. * Gym #5 - Clay (Driftveil City, Ground-type): Krokorok has both Crunch and Bulldoze, but incredibly low Defense. You'll be able to KO it quickly, even with your Attack drop due to Intimidate. It's hilarious when Krokorok uses Sandstorm, as it benefits Sandslash's Ability Sand Veil. Watch it dodge a lot of attacks. Sandslash versus Sandslash is a possible matchup, but not recommended. You may have more powerful Ground-type moves than your opponent, but Sandslash does better against all of Clay's other Pokémon, so save its energy for those. Next up is Onix, whose ludicrously low Attack stat can't hurt Sandslash ever, even if it uses Explosion. It's especially funny when Onix uses Explosion when you're underground. Last up is Excadrill, who has Bulldoze as its best move to hit Sandslash, while your Ground-type moves are super effective. Needless to say, Sandslash deals with Excadrill quite easily. Watch out when the Sandstorm is still up, though, as Excadrill has Sand Force, which will boost the power of Bulldoze. * Hugh (Pokémon World Tournament): Sandslash easily takes out Hugh's Pignite and Simisear with Dig or Magnitude, and Tranquill falls to Rock Tomb. Simipour and Dewott hit hard with their Water-type attacks, but you can 2HKO them. Simisage and Servine are a big no, since you have nothing to hit Grass hard with, unless you have Return or something. Still, you'd do better leaving both the Grass- and Water-types to other Pokémon. * Cheren (Pokémon World Tournament, Normal-type): Sandslash has difficulties after taking Stoutland's Intimidate, but should still be able to 2HKO everything, minus Stoutland, which may need a 3HKO. Watch out for the combinations of Cinccino's Sing, Work Up and Bullet Seed, and Watchog's Confuse Ray and Hypnosis, and you should be fine. * Colress (Pokémon World Tournament): The easiest matchup for Sandslash. Magneton may survive one Dig or Magnitude thanks to Sturdy, but if it has Magnet Pull instead, you easily OHKO it. Elgyem gets 2HKO'd, and can only hit back with Psybeam. Klink goes down after one Dig. * Gym #6 - Skyla (Mistralton City, Flying-type): Sandslash shouldn't be used here at all. Swoobat has the super effective special Energy Ball, which can and will hit Sandslash hard. Don't battle it. Skarmory's Defense is incredibly high, and Sandslash can't hit it for super effective damage. Stay away. Sigilyph is frail, but boasts the powerful STAB Psychic, along with Hypnosis. You don't want your Sandslash to go up against it. Then there's Swanna, who is a Water/Flying-type with Surf. Do not use Sandslash here either. * Hugh (Undella Town): Eeeeh. Emboar falls as easily as ever to Dig. Simisear has the special move Flame Burst, but it shouldn't hit too hard. Sandslash is able to OHKO it with Dig. Samurott and Simipour hit hard with Aqua Jet and Scald, respectively. Then there are Serperior and Simisage, which can use their respective Mega Drain/Leaf Blade and Seed Bomb. Then there's Unfezant, which will outspeed Sandslash, and has the special STAB move Air Slash, combined with Super Luck and a Scope Lens. Do Sandslash a favor and only battle the Fire-types. * Zinzolin (Lacunosa Town, tag battle with Hugh): Cryogonal knows Ice Beam. Do not use Sandslash before it's out of the picture. Zinzolin's Sneasel doesn't know Ice-type moves, and the Grunt's Pokémon can hardly hit Sandslash, so feel free to use Sandslash once Cryogonal is down. * Gym #7 - Drayden (Opelucid City, Dragon-type): Druddigon is risky. It only has physical attacks to hit Sandslash, and your Ground-type can hit back hard with Earthquake, but the scary thing is that Druddigon is holding a Sitrus Berry. It still shouldn't be too much of a problem, though. Flygon is immune to Earthquake, and can use Earth Power. Stay away. Altaria can use Cotton Guard, Sing and Dragon Pulse, and is also immune to Earthquake. Don't use it here either. Try to avoid using Sandslash against Haxorus. Haxorus knows Dragon Dance, and Sandslash can only 3HKO it with Earthquake, considering it already learned that move. That gives Haxorus the time to set up, and you just don't want it to set up. * Zinzolin (Opelucid City): Both Cryogonal know Ice Beam, don't battle them. Weavile knows Ice Shard, but shouldn't hit too hard. Sandslash can take it out with Earthquake. * Shadow (Opelucid City): Absol is his only Pokémon that is able to survive an Earthquake, but will fall to a second blow. Or, if you have the TM, X-Scissor could hit Absol slightly harder. Sandslash is able to defeat his whole team. * Gym #8 - Marlon (Humilau City, Water-type): All of Marlon's Pokémon know the STAB special Water-type move Scald. Don't even think about using Sandslash here at all. * Zinzolin (Plasma Frigate, tag battle with Hugh): Again, stay away from the Cryogonal, as they know Ice Beam. Weavile shouldn't be too hard, but watch out if both Weavile and the Grunt's Pokémon gang up on Sandslash, as that might inflict serious damage on the latter. The best thing to do would be to send out Sandslash as soon as Zinzolin himself is defeated, and have it beat the Grunt's Liepard, Watchog and Scolipede, which isn't too hard thanks to Earthquake. Also, watch out if the first Cryogonal managed to use Reflect, as it will halve the damage Earthquake will do to the opponent. As long as Reflect is up, it would be a good idea to not use Sandslash. * Zinzolin (Plasma Frigate): Weavile is easier to beat in singles than it is in doubles, but the Cryogonal only have one target now and that makes them a lot more dangerous. Have Sandslash sit outside the battlefield until Zinzolin's ace is out. * Colress (Plasma Frigate): If there's one type of Pokémon Colress doesn't like battling, it's Ground. Magneton will survive one hit thanks to Sturdy and strike back with Flash Cannon, but you can take it out afterwards. Metang only knows physical attacks, and will fall quickly to Sandslash's Earthquake. Magnezone will live the first Earthquake thanks to Sturdy, and strike back using Flash Cannon. It's preferred to only battle either Magneton or Magnezone with Sandslash, not both of them, as the Flash Cannons might leave Sandslash vulnerable to critical hits. You will need to destroy Klinklang's Air Balloon first, but after that has been done, Earthquake it into oblivion. The only impossible matchup is against Beheeyem, which can use Energy Ball. * Shadow battle #1 (Plasma Frigate): All the Pawniard go down to Earthquake. Absol can try to resist, but will faint quickly after taking X-Scissor or Earthquake. * Shadow battle #2 (Plasma Frigate): Earthquake the Pawniard again, but Accelgor knows Giga Drain. Don't battle it. * Shadow battle #3 (Plasma Frigate): More Pawniard, more Ground STAB. Only battle Banette if you absolutely have nothing else for it, as it may outspeed Sandslash and strike with Will-O-Wisp and Psychic. * Black/White Kyurem (Giant Chasm): Both Kyurem formes outspeed, and you can't OHKO them. Freeze Shock and Freeze Burn both hit very, very hard. Don't use Sandslash. * Ghetsis (Giant Chasm): Cofagrigus is too bulky for Sandslash, and likes throwing around Shadow Ball. Seismitoad hits hard with the super effective Muddy Water. Eelektross and Hydreigon are unaffected by Earthquake or other Ground-type attacks. The former can use Flamethrower, and the latter Life Orb boosted Dragon Rush and Crunch. Stay away from all these Pokémon. However, Drapion and Toxicroak both go down to Earthquake easily. Should they outspeed Sandslash, no problem. It's able to bulk the duo's attacks. * Hugh (Victory Road): Unfezant now only has physical moves, which would make it an easy target to the new Rock Slide you might have taught to Sandslash...if it wasn't for Swagger and U-turn. Swagger confuses Sandslash, and could make it hit itself hard. U-turn enables Unfezant to switch for a Pokémon that has a good matchup against Sandslash. Try to not use it there. Simipour and Samurott have Mystic Water boosted Surf, don't battle them. Simisage has Miracle Seed boosted Energy Ball, Serperior Giga Drain and Leaf Blade. Don't battle them either. Emboar now boasts Scald, which may be dangerous for a slower Ground-type like Sandslash. Stay away there as well. Charcoal boosted Flamethrower from Simisear may prove to hit too hard as well. The only possible matchup would be against Bouffalant, which can use Head Smash, but will go down to Earthquake. Except for Bouffalant, try to not use Sandslash against any other Pokémon. * Elite Four Shauntal (Pokémon League, Ghost-type): Cofagrigus can use Will-O-Wisp, Grass Knot and Shadow Ball, and is too bulky for Sandslash to hit hard. Drifblim gets hit hard by Rock Slide, but can strike back with Shadow Ball and may outspeed, especially after using Acrobatics to activate the Flying Gem, which will in turn activate Unburden and triple Drifblim's Speed. Golurk can strike with its own Earthquake, but Sandslash is faster, and is able to defeat Golurk. Banette can use both Will-O-Wisp and Psychic. Try to stay away. Chandelure goes down to one Earthquake, but will outspeed thanks to the Choice Scarf and OHKO Sandslash with Energy Ball. Don't battle it either. * Elite Four Marshal (Pokémon League, Fighting-type): Great danger. Throh has Storm Throw, which doesn't hit harder than Sandslash's Earthquake. Sandslash is able to take it out, even after Throh's Leftovers recovery. Sawk is more dangerous, as it has Muscle Band boosted Brick Break. Sandslash could be able to take it out, but must be at full health to do so. Mienshao's Hi Jump Kick hits way too hard for Sandslash to battle it. Lucario's Aura Sphere is boosted by Wise Glasses, and hits way harder than you'd want it to. Don't use it here either. Conkeldurr is incredibly powerful. After one turn, it gets burned by its Flame Orb, and thanks to Guts, its Attack will skyrocket. Don't even think of battling Conkeldurr. * Elite Four Grimsley (Pokémon League, Dark-type): Liepard doesn't hit too hard, and will be taken out by X-Scissor or Earthquake rather quickly. Scrafty is a bigger threat, but normally Brick Break or Crunch doesn't hit too hard. Earthquake hits hard too, but it's preferred to use another Pokémon against this one. Krookodile is a big no, as Intimidate lowers Sandslash's Attack, and therefore Krookodile's Earthquake will hit harder. Plus, Krookodile is faster. Absol is rather dangerous, as it knows Swords Dance and Night Slash. Plus, it has Super Luck and a Muscle Band. Try to stay away. Then Bisharp comes, which will fall to one Earthquake from Sandslash rather easily. * Elite Four Caitlin (Pokémon League, Psychic-type): Sigilyph, Gothitelle and Reuniclus know Psychic, and Musharna can use Dream Eater. Plus, Sigilyph can use Ice Beam, Reuniclus Energy Ball and Gothitelle Calm Mind. Just don't battle those. Metagross can use Life Orb boosted Zen Headbutt, but will fall rather easily to Earthquake. This is a good matchup for Sandslash, all the others are bad. * Champion Iris (Pokémon League, Dragon-type): Hydreigon knows how to use Surf. Don't even think about battling it. Druddigon knows Focus Blast, and it's boosted by Life Orb Sheer Force. Combine that with Druddigon's not-so-bad bulk, and you have a dangerous matchup. Keep Sandslash away. Archeops can try hitting with Flying Gem boosted Acrobatics, but after you get one Rock Slide in, the Rock/Flying-type is utterly crippled. Watch out for Endeavor, and you should be fine. For some reason, Aggron doesn't have Sturdy. Use Earthquake to OHKO it. Lapras is a Water/Ice-type with both Hydro Pump and Blizzard. This should be self-explanatory. Finally, Haxorus. Big danger. If it manages to set up even one Dragon Dance, you'll be in for a world of pain. Outrage after one Dragon Dance will 2HKO, and chances are Sandslash won't be able to 2HKO. If possible, avoid. * Post-Game: Sandslash won't be all too useful in the post-game, just like it is pre-League. However, it will still be able to come through against the same opponents it previously could take. }} Moves A Sandshrew of level 19, the lowest available level, will come with Rapid Spin, Swift, Fury Cutter and Magnitude. None of these moves are notably powerful, except for Magnitude, which is pretty useful for early game Sandshrew/Sandslash. If the Sandshrew is level 20 when you catch it, it will have Fury Swipes instead of Rapid Spin. Not really useful either, but you lost nothing with Rapid Spin gone. When you evolve Sandshrew at level 22 into Sandslash, it will learn Crush Claw, a move that isn't bad, but not decidedly good either. At least it's better than the other Normal-type moves Sandslash got at this point. By the way, don't be afraid of evolving, as Sandslash's level-up movepool is literally the same as Sandshrew's, with a few additions. At level 23, Sand Tomb comes, which is usually not really worth it, as Magnitude is nearly always better. Slash comes at level 26. This move is a little weaker than Crush Claw, won't lower Defense sometimes, but has a high critical hit rate. It's your choice whether you want to keep Slash or Crush Claw, you will need to throw both of them out soon anyway. Dig comes at level 30, but normally, you should have taught it to Sandslash through TM already. If you hadn't, then consider yourselves lucky, as Dig is a powerful and more reliable move than Magnitude. Gyro Ball is learned at level 34, but due to lower PP and a lack of Pokémon to hit super effectively with it, you're better off not teaching Sandslash the move. At level 38, Sandslash learns Swords Dance. Since Sandslash isn't really a fast sweeper, it's not as useful as it could have been. Sandstorm comes at level 44, but really. Unless you want to (ab)use Sandslash's Sand Veil Ability, there's honestly no reason to teach it how to use Sandstorm. Level 46 gives Sandslash the last of most useful of its level-up moves, Earthquake. Earthquake is a great and powerful Ground-type STAB move, and is an absolute must in Sandslash's moveset. The Sandshrew line can learn quite a lot of TM moves. When you first catch one, Return and Dig instantly come to mind, as both of them are obtainable at that point. Return will only be useful when Sandshrew/Sandslash's friendship grows, though. Rock Tomb can be found quickly in the Relic Castle, and is an useful move for your Sandshrew/Sandslash at that point. Brick Break and Swords Dance can be found in the Battle Subway, and later in the Pokémon World Tournament. The former costs 12 BP, the latter 18 BP. Neither are really worth the effort in the long run, though. The next TM that comes is Bulldoze, which you'll receive from Clay. Sadly, with Dig and Magnitude, Sandslash already has two Ground-type moves that for the most part outclass Bulldoze. X-Scissor is found on Route 7, and is quite the useful move against Psychic-types. It could work against Grass-types too, but don't risk battling those with Sandslash. In Celestial Tower, you can find Shadow Claw. It might seem interesting at first, but almost everything it can do is covered by the combination of Dig and X-Scissor, so it's not really worth it. After defeating Skyla, you can receive Aerial Ace in Mistralton City...and yet again, it's not worth a moveslot. Aerial Ace's power is just too low. The only reason you should need Aerial Ace would be for Fighting-types, as you shouldn't be out against Grass-types, and Bug gets covered better by Rock Tomb. And anyway, super effective Aerial Ace has the same base power as normally effective STAB Dig. In Mistralton Cave, the next very useful TM comes. Rock Slide outclasses Rock Tomb greatly, and will be welcomed by your Sandslash. Definitely a must. Toxic comes in Seaside Cave, giving Sandslash the chance to stall certain opponents out. However, it might not have the HP and Special Defense stats to pull this off effectively. The last useful TM move pre-League comes in Victory Road...well, if it can be called useful. Hone Claws will be outclassed by Swords Dance in almost every way. In the post-game, there are still the TMs for Earthquake, which you should know already, Stone Edge and Poison Jab. Stone Edge is an alternative to Rock Slide, and trades in accuracy for more power. If Rock Slide works, though, you'd be better off not going with Stone Edge. Poison Jab isn't worth it, as the only thing it can hit are Grass-types, and guess what? Never battle Grass with Sandslash. The Sandshrew line can also learn a few tutor moves. Iron Tail comes to mind. It's a powerful but inaccurate move, but it can't hit a lot of Pokémon for super effective damage. Stealth Rock is welcomed as a supportive move against certain opponents, but honestly, you won't be using it a lot. Super Fang can be used to wear more powerful opponents down quickly, but yet again, Sandslash usually has enough Attack to hit harder with its respective moves. Recommended moveset: Earthquake, Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Swords Dance / Toxic / Return / Stealth Rock Other Sandshrew's stats Sandslash's stats * What Nature do I want? Anything that boosts Attack or Defense, and preferably lowers Special Attack or Speed. Adamant or Bold are the best natures, but Brave and Relaxed aren't too bad either. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? As soon as possible. The lowest level you can catch a Sandshrew at is 19, and it evolves at 22 anyway. You won't have to wait long. * How good is the Sandshrew line in a Nuzlocke? Well... not too great, to be honest. Due to a fast evolution, and a great type for that part of the game, Sandslash might look like a great Pokémon, but in the late game, it doesn't do good as a sweeper, because of its low Speed, and isn't a great tank either, thanks to its mediocre HP and Special Defense. Plus, its Defense is good, but not good enough to shrug off hits like they are nothing, especially combined with its HP stat. However, it certainly isn't worthless. If you get a Sandshrew instead of another Ground-type like Sandile, make the best out of it. * Weaknesses: Water, Grass, Ice * Resistances: Rock, Poison * Immunities: Electric * Neutralities: Normal, Fire, Bug, Fighting, Psychic, Ground, Dark, Flying, Steel, Dragon, Ghost Category:Black 2/White 2 Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses